Suspension means for automatic washers



Oct. 16, 1945. P. 1;. GELDHOF ET AL 2,386,788

SUSPENSION MEANS FOR AUTOMATIC WASHERS Original. Filed Dec. 2, 1940 2Sheets-Sheet 1 mimr" Peter Edward Geld/20f ,L'uther. Ringer.

Oct. 16, 1945. P. E. GELDHOF ET AL SUSPENSION MEANS FOR AUTOMATICWASHERS 2 Sheets-Shet 2 Original Filed Dec. 2, 1940 asses on r, as

ars

SUSPENSION MEANS FQR AUTOMATIC WASRS Peter Eduard Gcldhoi' and LutherRinger, .St.

Joseph, Mich, assighors to Nineteen Hundred Corporation, St. Jose of NewYork ph, Mich, a corporation Qriginal application December 2, 1940,Serial No.

368,190, now Patent No. 2,347,190,

dated April 25, 194 3. Divided and this application May 1, 1943, SerialNo. 485,293

ll (Claim. ((31. 2 i8-20) This invention relates to a novel means forsupporting and carrying the washing and operating mechanisms of anautomatic washing, rinsing and drying machine. It provides a means forresiliently supporting a complete operating and control mechanism forsuch a machine within the rigid frame structure therefor.

The instant application is a division of appli-. cation Serial No.368,190, entitled Automatic washer filed Decemberl 1940, by Peter EduardGeldhof and Luther Ringer, and which issued on lip-r11 25, 19%, asPatent No. 2,362,190.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a yieldablesupporting means for a washing, rinsing and drying machine such that theoperating mechanism thereof is carried in a substantially floatingrelationship with respect to the rigid frame structure or housing,whereby the vibration or other operational shocks or jars initiatecl bythe operating mechanism transmitted to the housing will be greatlyminimized, if not completely eliminated.

It is a further object of the invention to provide suspensions for theoperating and control mechanisms of such machines to permit a certaindegree of freedom of lateral movement of themechanism with respect tothe housing structure therefor. The provision of even restricted freedomof lateral movement serves to correct for and minimize the effect uponthe apparatus of unbalanced loading of the centrifugal means during itsactuation for carrying out the drying operation.

It is an aim of the present invention to provide, in a centrifugal typeof device embodying a housing and a container therein in whichcentrliugal means is disposed, means for supporting said conta'ner inthehousing comprising a plurality of suspensions extending between thebottom of the container and the wall of the housing.

Each of the suspensions includes a supporting element having an endcushioned in dampening means. I

In accordance with the general features of this invention, there isprovided a. supporting frame, a base, and suspension means extendingbetween said frame and base, each of said suspension means beingcharacterized by a pair of brackets joined, by a, connecting member soconstructed that it provides a resilient, swingable mounting for saidbase with respect to said frame.

The novel which we believe characterlstic of our invention are set-forthwith particularity in the appended claim. Our invention itself, however,both to its manner of construction and operation, together with furtherobjects and advantages thereof, may best be understood by reference tothe following description taken in connection with the accompanyingdrawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a horizontal section through a wash ing, rinsing and dryingmachine looking down on the floating mounting for the tub and drivemoonanism which represents one embodimentoi the present invention;

Figure 2 is a partial verticalsection through one of the supportingmeans shown in Figure 1 taken along the line II-II; and

Figure 3 is a sectional view of one of the lower suspension pad socketmembers taken along the line III-III of Figure 2.

As will best be seen fromFigure l of the draw ings, the automaticWashing, rinsing and drying machine with which the suspension means ofthe present invention is advantageously employed includes, in general, acasing It which houses the entire mechanism and controls therefor.Secured totwo of the inner faces of the casing it are bars H which arebolted to the casing as by means of bolts i2, These bars are preferablyof such length as to extend completely across the side on which they aremounted and around the adjacent corners in end portions it. The othertwo inner faces of the casing to are provided with angle irons i l and[5 secured thereto by bolts to which pass through the casing 59, theends til of bare it, and the angle irons it and IS.

A pair of suspension brackets it are mounted across the corners of thecasing it adjacent the angle iron it. These suspension bracket ii arepreferably made ofrelatively thick stock (for example, mch stock) andare apertured at one end for the reception of the mounting bolt it whichsecures the bracket to the angle iron The brackets 57 are provided witha pair of tapped holes it in their opposite ends for receiving a pair ofbolts 28 whose heads are countersunk in the bar it and do not extendthrough the wall of cas s lo.

A supporting base or spider 2i is suspended directly from'the angle ironit and the suspension bracket ll by means of a plurality of suspensionmembers 22 which will be described in greater detail hereinafter.

Substantially all of the principal operating and control mechanism oithe washing, rinsing and drying machine is mounted on and carried byspider 2 I. It will be observed from Figure 1 that a tub 23 is mountedon the spider 2t and rotatably mounted within the tub 28 is a perforateddrying basket 24. Within the dlying basket 2| and mounted concentricallywith respect to the mounting for drying basket 24 is an agitator 2iwhich is arranged to be oscillated during the From the abovedescription, it will understood that a substantially floating mountingis provided for spider II with respect to the substantially rigid casingII. It willbe noted thatwashing operation. Suspended from the under 5the portion of the rubber cushioning pad II above side or spiderzl aredriving means, transmissions. pump means and suitable clutch and controlmean which-are described in greater detail in the aforementioned parentapplication Serial No,- W- 368,190, but not shown here for the reasonthat 1 they form no part 01 the present'invention.

The details of construction'of the suspension members 22 and theirassociated structure may best be seen from an inspection of Figures 2and 3. The opposite ends of the suspension rod 28 oi each suspensionmember 22 are drilled and tapped for the reception of the threaded shankof a bolt 21. The bolts 21 are Provided with relatively large heads 28about each of which is formed a molded rubber cushioning pad 29. A looknut ll is provided on each bolt 21 to limit the extent to which the boltmay be screwed into the suspension rod 2!.

therein. The bracket 32 serves to prevent the 30 rubber cushioning pad29 from coming out of the socket ii. The bracket 32 is bolted to a pairof projecting cars 33 formed on spider II by means of bolts 34. Thelower suspension pad socket Si is bolted to brackets 32 by means ofbolts ll 35 which extend from .the base or the socket ll alongside ofthe cushioning pad 29 (see Figure 3) The upper suspension pad socket iifor the suspension member 22 located at the right hand side of Figure 1is closed by a cover plate a and is directl bolted to a slightly bent upportion 31 of the angle iron H by means of bolts .38 which extend fromthe base of the socket 3| through the cover plate 36 and the bent-upportion 3! of the angle iron ll. The remaining two suspension members 22which are supported from the suspension bracket II are generally similarto the suspension member 22 connected to the angle iron II with theexception that the cover plate I of each of the former suspension rodsand the socket 3| are directly bolted to the bracket H.

The lower suspension 25 bolt head 28 in the lower socket II is under acompressive'force, while the portion of the'rubber cushioning pad 2below-the bolt head a in the upper socket member Si is also subjected toa compressive force. By virtue of this arrange- .ment, it will beunderstood that an essentially as is provided by the present inventionis iacilivtated by an arrangement of the several parts of the operatingand control mechanism suspended from the under side of spider 2i so asto provide a substantially eq ally distributed load at each of the threepoints or suspension in the structure illustrated in Figure 1.- The sameresults may be obtained, however, by varying the number and dispositionof the suspension members 22. Furthermore, by artificially loading thespider 2 i i. e. by making it abnormally heavy, its inertia isincreased, and thus tends to reduce vibration in the machine.

While we have shown and described particular embodiments of ourinvention, it will. of course, be understood that we do not wish to belimited thereto, since many modifications may be made, and we,therefore, contemplate. by the appended claim to cover all suchmodifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of our invention.

We claim as our invention:

Ina laundry machine having a substantially rectangular casing, means forsuspending the operating mechanism of said machine in said casingcomprising a base member, angularly disposed plates secured to saidframe members in two adjaeent comers of said casing and a third platesubstantially centrally. disposed on the opposite side or said casing,and means including resilient supp rt means connected between saidplate; and said base.

. PETER EDUARD GELDHOF.

LUTHER RINGER.

